About this episode
It's now a cliché to say that the events of 2020 are unprecedented, and that we feel unstuck from time itself, but early 2020 does seem of a different era. After a packed January and February, which saw a new Slam winner and two high-profile retirements, the COVID-19 pandemic threw our lives (and the tennis season) into disarray. How tennis responded tells us a lot about the sport: at times remarkably agile and resilient, and at other times inequitable, clunky, and slow. Some players shone on the court, others took the year off, and at the end of the year, there's merit in simply getting through. 4:30 January: Tennis' reaction to the Australian wildfires offers a glimpse at the sport's inequities and its inconsistent reactions to a crisis -- who suffers? 11:30 Also in January: Pliskova wins Brisbane, Asia Muhammad kicks off one of the few feel-good stories of 2020, Sofia Kenin stuns the Australian field 18:55 A scattered February, as usual: Kim's comeback, Rybakina's great start, Sharapova retirement 27:15 March changes everything - Indian Wells the first domino to fall 31:30 What was the WTA up to during the pandemic break? 42:40 Women's tennis returns in August: Brady and Azarenka break out 46:50 US Open goes forward in a sort-of-bubble: Osaka's win seemed fated 51:20 Roland Garros follows 3 weeks later and gets a shocking winner 57:25 October & November . . . not much happening 60:40 WTA unveils a huge rebrand, reclassifies tournaments and debuts new logo 69:10 Keeping ourselves honest: how were our predictions for 2020?